A Look at Art & Design

Artist Daryl Zang :: New Website and New Work

I am very pleased and excited to present the work of fine artist Daryl Zang. A graduate of Syracuse University, Daryl has also studied in Italy. Her new body of work is incredibly feminine with a soft palette, and fine application of paint.

While largely autobiographical, her theme and messages speak to us perhaps in ways we can all understand and transcend those quiet private moments we might have when we feel no one is looking. These are characters of strength, sorrow, angst, love, and concern. The works command reflection and bring to the viewer a familiarity that is at the same time peaceful and yet provocative.

Daryl Zang's work is presently on display at Gallery 137, Indian Orchard, MA until October 28th. Please visit her newly updated website at Zang Studios to view more of this fine artist's work.

What is graphic design?

Graphic Design and Web Design is a business that often involves behind the scenes activities. These activities and their end result are not produced by magic.  Graphic design requires creativity, thought, and execution. So, I’d like to share a few thoughts with you about what graphic design and web design can accomplish and what it’s true value is..

I can say that good graphic design is not always about beauty, style and fashion. It is not about just "making things look pretty". First and foremost, it is about communication, and it should always have a positive direct bottom-line effect on an organization’s business.

When a client came to me and said "I want to get into a New York City gallery." but was unwilling to market himself, there was little I could do for him.  I can't get him into any gallery without marketing efforts. I can't alert the galleries to his talent with ESP.

Good graphic design is about image building. All products, businesses and organizations develop personalities just as people do. Positive personalities (images and brands) are often among the most important assets any organization possesses. To not reinforce these positive visual images, or to not strength weak ones, is to leave a marketing vacuum which will be filled by a competitor.

I think one of the nicest descriptions I've read about the meaning and purpose of graphic design has been referenced at Noisy Decent Graphics.  Ben Terrett has posted a series of window sign messages from Conran & Partners which attempt to describe the purpose and meaning of graphic design.  Here are some of my favorite messages:

• There is no such thing as a boring project. There are only boring executions.
• Designers are messengers, we are not the message.
• Design must seduce, shape, and perhaps more importantly, evoke an emotional response. (I'd like to add to this statement that successful graphic design is A Call To Action.)

Thank You Designers

I want to send a huge THANK YOU to all the designers who responded to my yelp for help in my recent post Tomorrow is Not Always an Option.  You are an amazing group of people.  Despite heavy deadlines, and grueling workloads many of you took the time to write me emails offering your hand and shoulder for support. The design industry is a competitive place but it's also filled with compassionate and caring people who demonstrate that they aren't above lending a hand to a fellow designer. Eric Karjaluoto of smashLAB wrote a very helpful comment and offered some great practical advice. Some like Veerle Pieters and Cat Morley of BODO even posted their own blogs with companion articles. Veerle wrote eloquently her thoughts about how "Deadlines Kill Inspiration" and Cat at BODO offered suggestions for dealing with the on slot of deadline madness in her post titled Business Choices: The Next Level. I'd also like to acknowledge the readers of Veerle's Blog and BODO who wrote insightful, and sometimes fun, comments on this topic. Thank you all.

Setting Routines in Time Management

Every Thursday morning my neighbor mows his lawn. He has a beautiful home. The house and its embellishments are perfection. The flowerbeds and hedges are meticulously cared for. (He mows his lawn on a diagonal for heaven's sake.) He has a sprinkler system, gadgets and tools and a mower that looks like a baby Hummer. Every Thursday morning he's out there doing his routine and loving every second of it.

I'm not much of a routine gal. But I have to tell you, I enjoy Thursday mornings. There is something comforting in hearing those blades whirling around doing their job every week like clockwork. I've grown accustomed to the sounds of it.

Some of my readers here at ArtLOOK may have noticed that I have been trying to find new ways of best dealing with time management. My best girlfriend (who is also a designer) and I have been discussing ways in which to be able to fit more activities into our day. Not the usual activities of house cleaning, laundry, design work, freelance writing, business administration etc. We want new things. We want to find a way to fit the things we WANT TO DO, maybe even feel we HAVE TO DO...into our already overstuffed day.

Laura tells me this is accomplished via ROUTINE! (Oh no... say it ain't so!) "Well.." she says, "If you want to fit a new activity into your lifestyle you have to consider that activity a priority AND you have to set a routine or timeframe when you actually DO IT." For instance, I want to learn more about color. "So," Laura tells me, "let's say every morning you wake up at 6am, make coffee and take an hour to relax and learn about color while drinking your coffee." HEY...that could work! By the end of the week, I'd have 7 hours of color education under my belt. Amazing!

We discussed the work of Dave Werner. I can't imagine how that 25 year old guy did all that design work...AND had time to conceptualize those great projects. But my thinking is he did many of those projects while in school. School = routine.

I hate to admit it, and I'll never be a routine type of person, but I think there must be something to this notion of setting a routine. I'm not about to start accounting for every hour of every day but... who knows, maybe I'll start mowing my lawn on Monday and learning about color every morning at 6am.

ALERT :: Email Scam Targets Artists and Artwork

Artists beware: Email scammers are slick! This is not something we didn't already know, right? However, I want to alert you to an email I received this morning in several of my art email accounts. This type of thing is quite common on the Internet but I want to alert those of you who might be unfamiliar so you don't get involved with this. The title of the email reads "ARTWORK WANTED". The message goes on to say:

Hello Seller, Good Day.. My name is Ade jo. I saw your artwork in the list address and am very much interested in buying your (artwork) I will like to know the actual amount of the art and i will prefer to pay with a cashier cheque/money order. And about the shipping I know a good shipping company that I am using that can come for the picking up ,kindly get back now with the price and if you have the picture send it to my mail box to see.Are you a private seller?Do you accept chasier cheque/money order as my method of payment? I will want you to email me back with your website and last offering price. Best Regards

This email has all the hallmarks of a scam. The email expresses interest in your artwork and requests jpg's of the work and your price for selling. The sender says he prefers to pay with a cashier cheque or money order...sounds pretty good, doesn't it? He also says that he knows a good shipping company.

Ok...here is how this works. The guy (or gal) sends you money via an international check but he/she overpays you. When you notify him that he has overpaid, he'll request that you send the overage fees to the shipper to cover costs. This, of course, you'll agree to do but not before you find out the international check they have sent you is bad. Now you've paid money from YOUR ACCOUNT to the shipper. TA DA... you've lost money, allowed a scammer to know your banking information and you might have lost the painting or piece of art as well.

Edward Winkleman has a post on this very subject entitled Art Scam?, with a good deal of informative comments from his readers reqarding this type of fraud. Some of Edward's readers have also listed websites where you can report this activity to authorities. I HIGHLY recommend that you read Edward's post .

There is also a website called Art Scams - Tips to Protect You which I also highly recommend reading. This website offers several tips and resources for protecting your interests.

I know several artists who have had great success in selling art work via the Internet so please don't let this discourage you...just know who you are dealing with and do some research on your part.

Tomorrow is not always an option

The design industry is fraught with deadlines.  Often they come right on top of one another, they repeat weekly or monthly and we design-types are pretty familiar with this pattern.  It's part of the job and we accept this as industry standard. There are usually several advertising deadlines, copy deadlines, and Go-live deadlines just to name a few. Designers work late nights, early mornings, through weekends and holidays and we schedule our work load to best accommodate the nature of the work and our clients. We also like to occasionally take a day off once or twice a month.

Inevitably there is the client who asks "Is there anyway we can have this tomorrow?"  Or "We just found out we really need this work done by the end of the week." For whatever reason, the client has waited until the last minute, an emergency situation arises, or someone gets impatient and the designer is presented with that sinking feeling of really wanting to please the client but also realizing that another client will have to be "bumped" or another late night will be required.

This is sometimes unavoidable.  Sometimes it's just rude.  It seems as of late, Dragonfly Blu has been riddled by clients requesting work be done on an accelerated schedule. Despite the studio's company policy that work requested on a rush basis will result in a 50-75% increase... This seems to be becoming the rule rather than the exception. I don't really understand it.  I'm pretty forthright with clients, explaining scheduling and the need for effective and efficient planning. I put time lines and deadlines both in writing and I speak to this verbally in conversation. And yet... This is becoming epidemic here at DFB.

I think what the client doesn't understand is that when one continually requests work be done on a rush there are several factors involved that doesn't bode well for either designer or client.

1.  The designer will have to bump another client's work to do yours. A successful design firm, or designer working freelance, will often set up queues for work and continually asking for a "cut" in the queue is simply not fair.
2.  If the designer is rushed, quality work can be compromised.
3.  Clients need to understand that the computer fairies don't come down and do magic.  In creating an ID or in making a design there IS A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME REQUIRED FOR THE DESIGNER TO CONCEPTUALIZE YOUR PROJECT. This is the creative aspect that you are paying for.
4.   Designers need to rest and refresh too.  In doing so, we are better able to provide you with fresh ideas, and quality service.

I'm keen to know if other designers and/or writers have this problem and how you deal with it? 

Dave Werner :: Inspiring, amazing, creative

Whew! After nearly 4 weeks of non stop 16-18 hour days working on client accounts, I'm back to blogging (I hope.) I had planned on writing something of value over the weekend for my readers here at ArtLOOK, but having just seen the site I'm about to share with you....well, a look at this guy's creative portfolio is worth more than any of the words I could write.

Amazing, creative, inspirational...this 25 year old designer is truly a brilliant mind and seems to be a pretty darn nice guy to boot. Things that I especially loved were Impact, Reflect/Respect, and the Mondavi wine bottles. Dave Werner just makes me want to work harder, learn more, read more, see better...

Please check out Dave Werner's Portfolio.